


Clones, Reuniting, and Love

by genovianprince



Series: The World Was Screaming In Color [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blind Character, Blind Lance (Voltron), Multi, Polyamory, Slow Burn, Trans Lance (Voltron), Trans Male Character, it's the other relationships that burn slow, keith and lance finally stop being stupid this time guys, much faster than you'd think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-01 00:55:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13986978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genovianprince/pseuds/genovianprince
Summary: Team Voltron now know about just who - or rather WHAT - Shiro is. Project Kuron. But what are they supposed to do? How do they take Kuron out? Do they even NEED to? Kuron answers that for himself after he betrays Voltron on a mission. Now the Paladins are caught in deadly battle between Kuron and the Galra Empire. But the final question - where even IS the real Shiro? - could never be answered. It all rides on certain... possibilities....





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> The saga continues with part 2! Warning, this chapter starts off with an intense battle in which Lance gets extremely hurt and it is very graphically described (at least, to me. it may seem tame to some people, but... you have been warned). I'll be at a con all weekend now but here we go! Please R&R and enjoy the continuation of The World Was Screaming In Color <3

It happened as the Paladins conducted a meeting on a planet recently liberated. The Galra had appeared suddenly, launching a full scale invasion. To reach their lions, the Paladins had to fight their way forward on foot.

Which left Lance in a bind, since he couldn’t see who he was fighting. Keith did his best to protect him, fighting for them both a path to Red - Red first, had to be, to get Lance inside and  _ safe _ \- 

But then of course, things got quiznaked. 

The Galra noticed the weakness that Keith and Lance were and several of the soldiers descended on them at once, Lance firing as best as he could, Keith slashing, everything a mess of fur and sweat and the sounds of screams and the thick, coppery scent of blood - 

And then a large soldier knocked Lance out cold once again. She didn’t stop there, taking the opportunity smash his body up before a sword pierced her neck, and she was gone.

Red woke and roared, bounding over to her injured paladin as Keith scooped Lance carefully into his arms, the scene sadly familiar. Except this time Lance’s injuries were far more life-threatening. Red began stomping all the soldiers in her path, killing a large many of them before she was able to close her mouth around Keith and Lance.

“Take us to the Castleship, Red!” Keith ordered, bracing himself and Lance in the cockpit so Lance didn’t get jostled too much. Oh, fuck, Keith was going to be sick from looking at him. 

A bone from Lance’s arm protruded from the skin and he bled from numerous open wounds. They’d been without their armor because it was a diplomacy meeting and these aliens would have taken it as a fucking insult. Keith growled low in his chest. They’d pay for it if Lance died because of their stupid culture-over-common-sense bullshit. One of Lance’s feet was twisted at an odd angle and his breathing was shallow and rapid. Probably some broken ribs poking his lungs out or something.

“Don’t you fucking die on me now, Lance,” he snarled, as if he could keep Lance alive through sheer force of will. “Not after all we’ve been through.”  _ Why is it always you, Lance? _

Lance didn’t answer, of course, but the second Red had dropped them in her hangar, Keith broke into a dead sprint, holding Lance tightly as he made his mad dash for the pods. Deja vu was hitting him hard and he prayed that Lance made it through this one okay.

He shoved Lance into the pod and programmed it, watching as Chulatt barely ran inside on time.

“I don’t get why the fuck you wanna be in there with him,” Keith muttered.

The Black Paladin watched with a morbid fascination as the pod started forcing Lance’s bones back inside his body and to their rightful place. Seriously, he was glad he had a strong stomach, because anyone else would have barfed at least two times now. If it was Hunk, probably more like nine.

Once he was certain the pod was doing its job, he raced out to join his team in battle, shaken as he realized there were only four lions once again. They were lucky enough to defeat them all without needing Voltron, and the second the Galra had run once again, Keith sprinted for the healing chambers again as Allura warped the Castleship away.

\---

Two weeks. Two whole weeks, movements, whatever, and Lance still rested in the pod, healing. 

Black continued to refuse Shiro, and so Voltron continued to be reduced to four lions. The atmosphere consistently remained tense in the Castleship as everyone waited for an attack they couldn’t fight back without forming Voltron. For everything they’d worked so hard for to come collapsing around them.

What was more unsettling to Keith was the sheer radio silence from the Galra. Nothing, not even a whisper of an attack. The knowledge settled in his chest like a boulder. Between that, and keeping an eye on Shiro, Keith felt drained and hyper-aware of everything at the same time. He couldn’t deny the changes in Shiro that’d seen any longer. It drove him bananas. 

Keith desperately wanted  _ his _ Shiro back, and for Lance to wake up. Lance’s near death had struck him deeply, leaving him with  _ what-ifs  _  swirling in his mind. 

He hated what-ifs.

What if Lance had died? What if he’d never gotten to share his feelings? What if they could never form Voltron again? What if they never got Shiro back?

Endlessly they circled, day after day, torturing him. At least he knew Lance wasn’t dead. The thought that he could have missed out on having something with Lance terrified him, and he finally decided to just suck it up and tell Lance. No secrets between paladins. Except that there  _ were _ lot of secrets, but baby steps. Baby steps.

“Wake up already,” he whispered to the pod, looking at Lance’s peaceful face. Ugh, he wanted to kiss that stupid face.

As if on cue, the pod slid open and Keith caught Lance as he fell forward, steadying him.

Lance groaned, clinging to Keith’s shoulders. “Keith… what happened?” he asked hoarsely, struggling to stay upright.

Keith ignored the question and led Lance to the couch, settling him down. He flashed a smile at Chulatt as the mouse scurried up Lance, who yelped briefly but scooped up his friend and perched him on his shoulder. 

“Keith, come on, what happened?”

Keith sighed. “You got knocked out and they beat the shit out of you until I could kill them. Red stomped on a bunch of them in her rampage to get to you. I put you in the pod and we fought the attack off. We only just barely did it because Black still refuses to let Shiro in. We’ve been without Voltron for two weeks.”

“Whoa, okay, what? I’ve been out for two whole weeks? Damn, how bad was it?” Lance asked, raising his brows in shock.

Keith winced. “Uh, Hunk threw up when he saw you after we came back. You… looked really fucked up,” he said reluctantly, “Seriously, one of your bones was sticking out of your arm. I’m pretty sure one of your lungs collapsed from your ribs breaking. And lots of other stuff.”

Lance gagged. “God, I’m gonna barf just hearing about it. Do I at least have a neat scar?”

The Black Paladin rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Lance?” he groaned, even as he gently took Lance’s previously broken arm and examined it. “Yeah.” He traced the starburst scar from where Lance’s arm bone (as if Keith knew which one it was) he decided to vacate his body. 

“Yes, seriously! Scars attract suitors, didn’t you know that?” Lance asked with a chuckle, “And nice. Thanks.”

“What, not just the ladies?” Keith teased, heart thumping painfully. “Suitors, huh?”

“Uh, yeah. I told you I was bi, remember? Jeez Keith, you’re getting forgetful in your old age!”

“I’m only half a year older than you!” Keith defended immediately.

“Yeah, well, I’m going to enjoy that extra half a year wrinkle-free, thank you very much,” Lance teased, eyes sparkling with mirth.

Keith’s heart was committing mutiny in his chest as he stared at Lance’s face. This boy was going to be the death of him. He swallowed back the words he wanted to say.  _ Not yet. _

Lance hummed happily. “So what’s been happening while I was out?”

“Nothing.”

Lance’s brows rose again. “What do you mean, nothing?” he asked, shifting to get more comfortable.

“The Galra have been pretty suspiciously silent, and we haven’t been able to form Voltron, so we’re just… waiting. For something.”

The Red Paladin rubbed his chin in thought. “Yeah? Well, I’m back now, so at least we don’t have to worry too much,” he commented.

_ :Glad you’re okay, Lance!: _ Chulatt projected, cuddling up under Lance’s ear.

Lance smiled and patted Chulatt gently. “Me too, Chu. He said he’s glad I’m okay,” he said aloud for Keith’s benefit.

At that moment, Chulatt did something he wasn’t aware the mice  _ could _ do - he sent a vision. Lance jolted in his seat as his mind processed it.

_ Keith sitting next to him on the couch, body half turned to stare at Lance - what was that expression on his face? Fondness? Longing? Keith’s eyes told a story of worry and relief, and yet something was held back. _

Lance didn’t quite see what it was before the vision ended.

“Oh my God,” he breathed, eyes wide. “Chulatt, what was that?”

_ :I showed you!: _ the mouse said proudly,  _ :I thought I’d try it! And it worked!: _

“Chulatt, what? Come on man, explain to me so I can tell Keith to stop giving me that worried look I know he’s giving me.”

“I’m not worried,” Keith grumbled in protest, crossing his arms.

Chulatt looked at him and sent the vision to Lance.

“Hah, you’re totally pouting! So... I guess what Chulatt can do is… show me what he can see,” he guessed, “Because he just showed me you sitting with your arms crossed all in a huff because I called you out.”

Chulatt squeaked an affirmative. 

Keith’s jaw dropped slightly and Chulatt sent the picture-perfect face to Lance, causing him to snort a laugh.

“You look dumbstruck, Keith,” he teased lightly. “It’s weird though, seeing you at angle from my shoulder.”

Chulatt scrambled to position himself on top of Lance’s head as Keith rolled his eyes.

“Wait a tick,” Keith said suddenly, giving Lance a serious look,  “If Chulatt can show you what he sees… Can he do it in real-time?”

“I dunno, Chu, can you?” Lance asked, brow furrowed.

Chulatt squeaked and focused, sending the scene to Lance instantaneously. Keith started making a few faces to test it and Lance snorted when Keith stuck out his tongue.

“I don’t think there’s any delay,” Lance said, vision going dark as Chulatt paused to recover for a moment. “It seems to exhaust him quickly, though.”

Keith’s brow furrowed in thought. “Lance,” he said slowly, “I think this means... If we could build up Chulatt’s stamina, we could have you sniping again. You’d have to get used to mouse vision from wherever he happens to sit, but you could use his eyes to shoot again.”

Lance blinked. Blinked again. Opened his mouth, closed it. Blinked again.

“Uh, Lance? You okay?”

Lance gasped and lurched forward, grabbing Keith in a hug. “Keith! Oh my God! This is - I can fight again!” he shouted. Chulatt squealed and clung tightly to Lance. 

Keith’s heart stuttered again and he hugged Lance back loosely. “Yeah, maybe. We should test it in the training area first,” he murmured in reply. The words he wanted to say bubbled up in his throat again and he pulled back to give Lance an intense stare.

Chulatt relayed the image to Lance and Lance stiffened a little as he stared back (hopefully) into Keith’s eyes. God, that look… Lance’s heart thumped painfully and he finally let himself realize just how much he wanted to kiss Keith’s stupid face. His arms were still wrapped loosely around Keith. He could just…

Before what either boy really knew what was happening, they were leaning forward. Keith kept his eyes open for a moment, to make sure he didn’t ram his nose into Lance’s teeth or something as they got closer.

The moment their lips pressed together, Keith let his eyes fall shut. Lance pulled Keith closer again and Keith’s arms slipped around Lance and pressed into the taller man. The kiss become more intense, more heated as they clutched desperately at each other. Lance’s lips parted with a soft moan and Keith took the opportunity to slide his tongue against Lance’s. 

Lance moaned softly again, curling his tongue with Keith’s. God, the other man really knew how to kiss, he thought dazedly.

Keith started pulling Lance back, shifting them so they lay on the couch, Lance on top. He let out his own soft moan as Lance pulled back, panting slightly to regain his breath.

“Holy shit, Keith,” he whispered. He jerked a little when he felt Chulatt shift to run off him, perching on the couch somewhere. “You… Wow. God. I really, really like you so I hope this isn’t just some kind of fling or one-off or anything because you are really amazing and - ”

Keith pressed a finger to Lance’s lips, silencing him. “Of course I like you,” he breathed, “I like you a lot, Lance. I have for… for a long time. I just didn’t know how to…”

“Confess?” Lance finished for him, smiling, “I literally only figured out how much I actually like you about a minute ago.”

“You move fast,” Keith drawled.

“Dude, I flirted with Allura the second I saw her. Moving fast is literally my nature,” Lance snickered, dropping his head to press small kisses into Keith’s neck.

Keith snorted. “If we could not talk about your past flirtations while  _ we’re _ making out, that’d be ni-ice,” he said, trying to keep a dry tone but losing it at the last moment when Lance sucked on a sensitive spot on his neck.

Lance chuckled and shifted to kiss Keith. “I wish I could see the hickey on your neck right now,” he purred.

“Lance, you left a - a hickey?” Keith whispered, a little bit pissed but a little bit turned on, too.

“Er… should I not have?” he asked.  _ Good job, McClain, you already fucked up. _

Keith sighed. “No, it’s fine, I just… Thought you wouldn’t want to tell the others or something,” he muttered.

“Whoa, Keith, buddy, are you kidding? I  _ want _ them to know I’ve landed myself the most gorgeous half-alien in the entire universe,” Lance scoffed, kissing Keith’s nose. “You’re amazing.”

Keith blushed. “Oh… I, okay.”

Lance smiled softly, cupping Keith’s cheeks. “I’m so happy right now. Seriously. Best day of my life - I’ve got a rad new scar and a total hottie boyfriend.”

Keith rolled his eyes and laughed quietly. “That’s what makes a day good for you?” he asked, bemused.

“Yup,” Lance replied, popping the p. “You’re mine now, Keith. Get ready for the worst barrage of pickup lines every day.”

“If I’d known I was going to be subjected to those, I never would have kissed you,” Keith retorted.

“Aw, come on, baby, you don’t mean that,” he pouted. 

“You’re right, I don’t, but try not to irritate me with too many of those awful lines,” Keith admitted, hesitantly pressing a kiss to Lance’s forehead.

“We’ll see,” Lance compromised.

Keith rolled his eyes but accepted his fate.

They went back to kissing languidly, neither feeling the need to go any further. It felt nice to just lay together, without any pressure, kissing and giggling with the happiness they found in each other.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's still Friday where I am... barely.... oops? Enjoy the update, fellas <3

Hunk found them.

“Ooh, you guys finally confessed,” he said with a big grin on his face, laughing as Lance yelped and fell off  Keith and the couch, hitting the ground with a thump, “Pidge owes me 300 GAC.”

“Isn’t that, like, five dollars?” Keith asked, blushing at being caught but helping a whining Lance up.

“Yeah.”

“Not a very big bet,” Keith murmured.

Lance rubbed his shoulder where it had hit the ground. “Keith and I are totally worth more than five bucks,” he complained.

Hunk laughed again, adjusting his headband slightly. “Pidge didn’t think so,” he teased, “She thought you guys would do a ‘nearly died’ kiss after a battle, but I said one of you would confess after the other had a stint in the healing pod.”

Lance huffed and Keith blushed.

“Did you guys seriously bet on us?” Keith asked, annoyed and embarrassed.

“Yup. Pretty much everyone knew you’d get together eventually,” Hunk said, leaning on the couch, “Pidge and I were supposedly the only ones that bet, but I’m pretty sure Allura and Coran had their own bet. Also, I’m pretty sure Shiro was betting with Kolivan.”

“Even  _ Kolivan _ thought that I liked Lance?” Keith burst out, jaw hanging open. “And he  _ bet on it with Shiro? _ ”

“I said pretty sure,” Hunk said soothingly, “Not a hundred percent.”

Lance groaned. “Wonderful. I wish I had seen what was apparently obvious to everyone in the frickin’ universe a long time ago. I’ve been missing out on so much,” he said, pouting.

Keith rolled his eyes.

“I can feel you rolling your eyes at me, Mullet!” Lance accused.

Hunk shook his head. “It’s good to have you up and about again, Lance,” he said, interrupting the brewing storm, “Seriously. We’ve all missed you.”

Lance grinned. “Good to be back, Hunk.”

“Hungry? It’s almost dinnertime anyway.”

“Literally always,” Lance answered, his stomach growling loudly right on cue.

Keith snorted. “You didn’t seem so hungry for  _ food _ a second ago so much as  _ my face _ ,” he muttered.

“You liked it,” Lance shot back immediately, smirking as he stood up. “Oh, my cane?”

Keith handed it over and Lance put his free hand on the back of the couch for Chulatt to climb on again. Once Chulatt got comfortable, Lance snapped his cane out and started walking to the dining hall. 

Keith fell into step next to him, taking Lance’s free hand hesitantly in his own. His face felt like it was on fire, but Lance’s hand felt nice in his.

Lance squeezed it gently, smiling. “Your hand’s warm,” he murmured.

Keith just hummed a little in response, almost dropping Lance’s hand as he saw the rest of the Castleship’s residents sitting at the dinner table and chatting. Lance’s hand just tightened its grip, so he didn’t let go, even when Pidge groaned at Hunk’s smirk and Shiro raised his brows with a knowing smile.

_ Not. Shiro. _ He forcefully reminded himself. His heart ached for the real Shiro.

“It’s about time you two sorted your feelings,” Allura said primly, smiling gently at the new couple.

Lance grinned in response. “I know, right? I only got it about five seconds before we kissed,” he said casually.

Coran chuckled. “Well, you certainly don’t waste any time, Lance,” he said warmly. “I’m happy for you two.”

“Aww, thanks Space Uncle,” Lance said happily, letting Keith drag him to a pair of chairs and sat together.

“Okay, Lance and I are together, can we please avoid doing the questions-and-staring thing and just… I dunno, talk about literally anything else?” Keith groaned. 

Pidge stuck her tongue out at him. “I need the gossip, Keith. So spill. How did it happen exactly?” she asked.

Lance smiled, putting his elbow on the table and resting his chin in his hand. “We basically stared at each other for a bit and then we smooched. A lot. For a long time,” he bragged lightly.

Keith rolled his eyes, rubbing the hickey absently. “Yeah, pretty much,” he agreed.

“Damn, Lance, that’s a big fuckin’ hickey you gave Keith,” Pidge drawled, smirking, “That thing stands out against your pale-ass skin, dude.”

“Language, Pidge,” Shiro reprimanded, but he smirked at Keith a little. “I’m glad I don’t have to worry about you two fighting anymore.”

Hunk brought out the dinner he’d been working on and thankfully moved the subject away from Keith and Lance’s new status. Eventually Lance was able to bring up the thing with Chulatt and they started setting aside training time for Lance to build up Chulatt’s endurance with vision sharing, and then they’d see how well it could work in battle with the training bots.

Lance didn’t like giving the false Shiro any information like this, but he couldn’t risk giving away what he and Keith knew in case that triggered something. They couldn’t fight him. Not yet. But maybe it was time to tell the other paladins what they knew, so they could all be ready in case the Galra placed some kind of kill switch in the false Shiro’s brain.

\---

Calling a secret meeting was undoubtedly tough.

Lance managed it, though, after rousing everyone at what amounted to three in the morning. Pidge almost just punched Lance and went back to sleep, but his deadly serious expression woke her more than anything. Matt was still awake anyway, so that was taken care of. Hunk was easy enough to get up. Lotor almost gutted him before the prince realized who he was and muttered under his breath about needing beauty sleep as he stood. Allura and Coran acted much like Hunk, rolling out of bed without question, but with complaints.

Keith sat waiting for them in the meeting hall, drumming his fingers impatiently as the occupants of the Castleship minus Shiro all trickled in.

“What’s this about, Keith?” Pidge whined as she sat down and pillowed her head on her arms. 

“Really, it is much too early,” Allura commented, yawning, “But Lance is almost never serious, so I suppose it must be important. Where’s Shiro?”

“That’s… what we need to talk about,” Lance sighed, sitting down by Keith. “I know that the Shiro sleeping in this castle isn’t the same Shiro we left Earth with.”

Matt furrowed his brow. “He did seem pretty different, but I thought that a lot had just… happened to him,” he murmured.

Keith nodded at Matt. “Yeah, but he was still  _ Shiro _ . This… thing, whatever it is, isn’t Shiro.”

Hunk remained quiet and Pidge gave Keith a sharp look.

“What makes you say that, number four?” Coran asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“He… It’s hard to explain. They’re all really subtle differences that make him… Colder. And less stable. He’s…” Keith trailed off and make a frustrated noise at the lack of words he had to describe it. “There’s what I’ve noticed and definitely what Lance noticed. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but after Lance talked to me, I started noticing. And then we talked to Slav and he basically confirmed it.”

“Slav? Seriously?” Pidge groaned.

“Hey, he’s pretty smart, even if he’s nervous and scatterbrained,” Hunk defended.

Lance nodded. “Hunk’s right, Pidge. Slav even noticed the differences in the quintessence that I did and started tracking the real Shiro.”

Lotor hummed, taking in all the information. “I remember hearing something about a Project Kuron before. Something to do with the former Black Paladin. I was unaware that it was a plan already in progress and dismissed it as some lackey’s half-baked plan,” he mentioned, stretching and yawning. “I do wish I had thought to mention it sooner, but it slipped my mind until now.”

Lance swallowed. “Kuron. That’s the… thing, then. That’s the not-Shiro.”

“Wait a tick, number three, you said you noticed a difference in Shiro’s quintessence?” Coran asked, frowning in thought.

Lance nodded. “After using Red’s eyes for so long, I started to see the quintessence that gives everyone their life - but only when I was using Red’s eyes. So I never noticed the difference in Shiro until I happened to look at him while still in Red,” he explained, “Everyone’s quintessence is golden. Unless it’s someone who serves Zarkon. They have the corrupted form sustaining them, which is blackish and purplish. Shiro’s… Kuron’s… when I saw it, it was the corrupted form.”

Allura narrowed her eyes. “How long have you been keeping that from us, Paladin Lance?” she asked icily.

He shivered at her tone. “I knew for about a movement, before I got injured again,” he admitted reluctantly. “I didn’t want to tip him off and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just… seeing things.” He waved his hand in front of his face for emphasis.

Keith nodded. “That’s why he came to me,” he said continuing the story, “I was close to Shiro before he left for Kerberos, and after, and he was still pretty much the same person. But now… I saw the difference.”

“You still should have told us,” Allura hissed furiously.

“How?” Keith demanded, crossing his arms and glaring at her. “There hasn’t been any time between meetings and the  _ war _ to try and get everyone together like this without that - Kuron thing noticing. And I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell you guys without Lance, and he’s had to be in a pod for the last two movements.”

“Guys, come on, don’t fight,” Hunk pleaded, “We need to figure out what we’re going to do about this. If that Kuron-Shiro thing serves Zarkon, how are we supposed to fight it? We need some plans in case Kuron talks to Zarkon or something.”

Allura pursed her lips, but let it go. They stayed up another two vargas, making quick contingency plans and mapping out possibilities before everyone had to stagger back to bed to grab a little more sleep before training in the morning.

Lance followed Keith to his room, biting his lip nervously. “Can I just… sleep with you tonight?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck. “And I actually mean  _ sleep _ sleep. Not… the other thing.”

Keith furrowed his brow, but nodded. “Yeah, no problem Lance,” he murmured, letting him in

They fell into bed in a tangled mess of limbs, cuddling close to each other.

“Thank you,” Lance whispered after a bit, “I was afraid… I’d have nightmares about losing you. Everyone. To Kuron. Or something.”

Keith petted Lance’s hair comfortingly. “We’re gonna get rid of this guy and save our real Shiro,” he said with determination, “We’re gonna come out of this alive and we will stay together. I just got you here. I’m not letting you go so easily.”

Lance smiled. “Thanks, Keith. You’re right. We’ll kick some serious ass,” he said lightly.

Keith smiled a little back. “Good. Now sleep.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> owo what's this? an update on TUESDAY? Haha well, my dear readers, it's finally that time. The entire fic series is just about complete. That means you are going to be getting TWO updates a week until it's all done! Tuesdays and Fridays! I'm SO excited to get this fic out to you guys sooner :) It's my pride and joy. I hope you guys enjoy and stick around <3
> 
> This chapter is pretty battle heavy. But hopefully the ending is nice. Get ready for a roller coaster, folks.

Another phoeb passed, and Lance was getting used to using Chulatt’s eyes. The mouse could hold up for about a varga now without needing to rest for at least fifteen doboshes. At first it was hard wrapping his brain around using the differently positioned eyes to shoot and fight, but long hours in the training room and he was able to get used to shifting his brain’s perspective.

He’d learned from Allura that the mice could only do it for her when they pressed against the scales on her cheeks, so it could only mean that Lance was more sensitive to mind-melding/psychic stuff than the average Human, especially with being a paladin. The constant talking with the lions and Chulatt had forged new pathways in his brain, or just widened the ones already there. Coran was never really sure which was it - brains were always complicated, even for the “primitive synapses” the Humans had.

All in all, it was just a weird ability that Lance had to get used to using, and he practiced almost every waking minute so he could actually fight on foot again.

Of course, the day came quickly. While Lance had been training with Chulatt, they’d been fending off attacks as Voltron as best they could, but eventually they had to start infiltrating and doing hand-to-hand again. The battles were still suspiciously quiet and easy, and Lance felt very  _ un _ easy about it all.

It  _ should _ have just been a minor scuffle - take out the minimal sentries, free some prisoners, done and done. 

Lance was taking direction from Pidge, letting Chulatt take some time to be ready to lend him his eyes when they actually started fighting. He crept down the halls, shooting as he needed. He could hear Keith’s quiet breathing beside him as he provided his boyfriend cover to start hacking into the prison cells. Pidge switched her focus to telling Keith what to do and Lance borrowed Chulatt’s eyes, watching the corridor for any signs that something had gone wrong.

When he saw Shiro come by, he felt his blood freeze.

“Something’s wrong,” he said immediately. 

“What - Why is Shiro - Oh,  _ fuck _ ,” Pidge cursed. “We’ve got a large battleship incoming, guys.”

Shiro - no, Kuron - smirked at them, warming up his robotic arm. “I finally got you fools in a vulnerable position,” he growled.

The lock on the prisoners’ door finally clicked open and they fled for the escape pods, Keith standing and activating his bayard.

“I don’t think so,” Keith said, narrowing his eyes. 

Kuron laughed. “The Empire is coming down on you and all of you are away from your lions. This will be easy,” he said, eyes starting to glow yellow as he rushed them.

Lance finally got off a few shots before Keith leapt into the sword-and-arm fight with Kuron. But... The shots didn’t even  _ bother _ him.

“I’ve finally got a handle on what this guy is. He’s a bot with synthetic organic material coating the bot body,” Pidge’s voice crackled in their ears. “I think he was jamming my scans before. He’s a lot tougher than your average sentry. I’d almost swear this guy was made of  _ vibranium _ if that existed.”

“Okay, great, good to know we’re fighting Captain America’s fucking shield,” Lance spat out sarcastically, doing his best to keep getting shots off as Keith and Kuron fought.

Kuron laughed again, backing Keith into a corner. He “bled” from numerous wounds, not that he felt any. Once the command word had been spoken to him, his computer brain had started blocking the false pain signals. He didn’t  _ need _ the skin and blood to live, just the parts underneath.

Keith had thought it would be hard, fighting someone who was just like Shiro in every way. They even fought the same for the most part. But the sense of betrayal burned hot, and the unnatural glowing eyes helped Keith separate them in his head. The real Shiro still needed to be found, though Slav was sure he was close to locating him.

Help came unexpectedly, in the form of Lotor. The prince had slipped in quietly and thrust his sword into Kuron’s neck. He scowled as Kuron shifted so his shoulder took the damage and he took over the fight from Keith.

“I will not allow my father to make any more abominations like you!” Lotor roared  as his sword clanged against Kuron's arm. The internal pain he carried from his parent’s sickening choices let itself loose in the energy of the fight. He hated what had been to the universe in the name of Zarkon, but he would fix it. It was his duty as Zarkon's heir, as friend and ally to the paladins of Voltron.

Narti would have been proud of him, he thinks, gut twisting as he remembered what his mother, no, the witch Haggar had done to her. He'd been forced to put her out of her misery and his heart ached every time he thought of the loss at his hands.

Kuron just laughed. "You have no place in Zarkon's Empire,  _ prince Lotor," _ he said with a dark grin. "You, especially, he wants dead for your treason."

"He can have his orders," Lotor said easily, "But the universe no longer follows my father's command. I will still take over and I will turn the tide towards peacetime. For everyone I've ever known that was kind to me. For Narti, for Acxa, Ezor, Zethrid. For Voltron and its paladins. For Princess of Old Altea, Allura. For the universe."

"You really believe that, don't you? Zarkon will not miss you," Kuron taunted, "His own son with Voltron, how pathetic."

As Lotor fought with Kuron, exchanging insults, Keith and Lance advanced through the ship, mowing down Galran soldiers and sentries. The battleship that had appeared sent several pods filled with troops descended into the former prisoners' ship. Eventually, Hunk and Allura were able to board and join their fellow paladins in the onslaught, Pidge still frantically hacking systems and taking down as many as she could that way.

Airlocks activated with the doors open, taking out troops that stood too close. Rover-bots fell under Pidge's control and zapped the enemy, taking them down. Plenty still poured into the ship where the paladins were located, and the battleship loomed, firing its ion cannon at the Castleship.

Coran desperately diverted all available power to the particle barrier. Matt took over Pidge's job and forced her to take Green out to start taking down what she could in battle.

Lance shot frantically, trying to adjust for every little movement Chulatt made that forced him to recalculate the correct angle from using the little mouse's eyes.

"We're not losing here," he said determinedly as they forced the enemy back.

"No way," Keith agreed, a smirk on his face as he cut down sentries. "We've come too far to lose now."

Bolstered by the encouragement, the paladins fought harder.

"They're not sending in anymore pods because I'm destroying them all," Pidge noted, "If you guys can - can take care of what's left, you can get to your lions and form Voltron."

"Please hurry!" Coran's voice rang out, sounding frantic, "I'm running out of power to keep the shields up and they're charging the cannon again!"

Lance growled under his breath. They would not lose.

Finally,  _ finally _ , they fought their way out and rushed for their lions. As Lance ran up Red's mouth and settled in the cockpit, Chulatt finally stopped livestreaming his eyes to Lance and collapsed on his shoulder in exhaustion.

"Good job, Chu. Sleep," Lance whispered to him, grabbing the levers and connecting to Red's eyes.

Red roared in unison with her pridemates as they flew out to green. The paladins' hearts and breathing slowed, synchronizing as they came together and formed Voltron. Lance smirked at the feeling of their thoughts buzzing around him, unreadable, but comforting.

"Okay guys, let's kick some Galra ass!" Lance whooped.

"What Lance said," Pidge agreed, smirking as well.

Hunk plunged his bayard into the slot, forming Voltron's cannon at Keith's command. Keith inhaled deeply and aimed their cannon at the battleship's. The second the charge was full, Hunk twisted his bayard's handle and the laser bust forth, destroying the largest weapon the Galra had.

The battleship still had other weapons to fire and they let loose at both the Castleship and Voltron. 

Coran started firing back, switching the barrier on and off as fast as he could to let his fire out but not allow Galra fire in. The Castleship took some damage, but he piloted it around as best he could so it would damage spots more easily fixed.

Voltron flew to make itself another shield for its home, even as it advanced on the battleship to destroy it.

"You holding up okay, Coran?" Keith asked as they switched to Voltron's sword to slice through one of the engines.

"Doing my best!" Coran yelled back, sounding enthusiastic now. 

"Thank you," Allura responded, flashing him a smile over the video call, "Keep it up, Coran. We'll get them."

Coran saluted her and Voltron plunged forward into the fight, shielding from shots and generally fucking up the hull of the ship. The captain decided the ship had taken enough damage and fled, leaving the paladins cheering.

"Suck it, Zarkon!" Lance crowed.

"Isn't that Keith's job?" Allura teased lightly.

"Okay, I didn't need to hear that!" Pidge complained, making Hunk laugh.

Keith growled. "What Lance and I do isn't any of your business," he said warningly. 

"Wait! What about Kuron and Lotor?" Hunk finally realized.

Simultaneously, the other four paladins said various different curse words as they dived for the prisoner's ship and de-formed, exiting their lions. Keith stumbled forward, injuries making him a little slower, but he pushed himself forward. He didn't exactly trust Lotor, but he'd defended them and he'd be damned if he broke Lotor's strange belief in them. 

Lance ran after him, Chulatt tiredly trying to keep up so he could follow Keith. He'd been overexerted and could barely send the visions. Lance thought it looked as if all the halls were extremely dim. Like some kind of horror game. He shuddered at the memories of playing Amnesia late in the night as he raced after Keith, the others just behind him.

Kuron and Lotor were somehow still fighting when the paladins come upon them, and Lance frankly had no idea what was giving Lotor such stamina.

Lotor wouldn't have been able to say either - perhaps a sheer determination to stay alive, to ensure Voltron continued on to defend the universe, to make his father pay for everything he’d ever done - some combination of it all and other reasons. All he truly knew was that if he gave in, if he  _ lost _ to this  _ creature _ , this pale imitation of the former Black Paladin, hope would be lost.

Lotor refused to let any more hope be lost after he’d finally found how to feel it again.

Keith yelled and charged back into the fight. Kuron’s organic over-body was almost entirely gone by now, littered all around the hallway. 

Pidge shot her bayard before Keith could get close, electrocuting Kuron and forcing him into a coma. 

Hunk let out a low whistle of appreciation. "Nice one, Pidge," he said, doing his very best to ignore the gore littered around. He  _ really  _ didn't need to throw up. Even if some of it was kind of recognizable as Shiro, he had to remind himself that it was all false. Like a skinwalker, or something. Not actually Shiro. His stomach gurgled warningly and he winced.

Lance stepped forward and squeezed Keith's shoulder, telling Chulatt to take a break again. The mouse would probably sleep for the whole next day. At least he could easily avoid seeing the shocking scene.

"It's not actually Shiro, Keith," he murmured.

Keith swallowed and nodded, taking a deep, steadying breath. "Yeah. Kuron. We need to take this thing back to the Castleship and question it or something," he said. "Hunk, I know you're having trouble, so why don't you take Lance to your lions? Allura, Pidge, Lotor and I can get this thing."

Pidge made a face. "I don't want to touch it," she said reproachfully.

"No, but your bayard can shock him back into blue-screening if he wakes up," Lance chimed in.

"Blue-screening?" Allura asked, confused.

Lotor also frowned in confusion as he started to gather up the robot's legs, Keith stepping over to grab it under the armpits.

Hunk shook his head and took Lance's arm, leaving Pidge to explain to Allura and Lotor what Lance had meant as they headed for the lions.

"You okay, Hunk? I know it looked gnarly," Lance said sympathetically.

Hunk inhaled slowly. "Yeah. Just trying to focus on literally anything else. But I can't. I killed people, Lance. I killed people."

"Enemy combatants, as Coran would say."

Hunk shook his head. "Yeah, but that doesn't erase their people-ness."

"Okay, you know what does erase their people-ness? The fact that they were sustained by corrupted quintessence. They were going to fall apart at the seams eventually anyway, Hunk," Lance said. 

"But what if they could have been fixed, Lance? What if some of them could have changed? Like Lotor? I bet he was just as bad as the rest of them when he came to us," Hunk continued, "I'd bet on it. But he changed, Lance. How many of them would have, too?"

Lance's gut twisted, guilt squirming in his stomach. "Okay. I'm sorry," he sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I hate it. I didn't want to kill anybody either. I never wanted anyone to die. But we've done it before. This was just... one of the first times we've actually had to do it up close and personal instead of from the lions. It's sickening. I feel like shit about it too.”

"Exactly... I just... I wish things could have happened differently," Hunk said, tearing up, "I don't like this. I don't want to be like them."

"It'd be scary if you did, bud," Lance replied, "I'd be worried about you. But... since you're so upset by it, it's obvious that you're still a good guy. You don't have to worry about being like them. We're killing to save lives, not end them."

"I'm pretty sure that didn't come out the way you meant for it to, Lance," Hunk said with a tiny huff of a laugh.

Lance stuck his tongue out at him. "You know what I meant, obviously.”

Hunk let himself laugh a little more. "You're the best friend in the universe, you know that Lance?"

"Uh, no, that title belongs to you and if you argue with me I'll spray-paint dicks on Yellow to prove you wrong," Lance scoffed.

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh, but I would!"

Hunk groaned. "Fine, fine. You're the second best friend in the universe," he said, shaking his head.

Lance grinned. "Much better," he said lightly, glad to have actually cheered his best friend up.

Hunk just shook his head again and gave Lance to Red, hopping in his own lion and going off to the Castleship. They had to figure out a way to question Kuron now.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was interesting to write. after all, certain possibilities... become clear. I hope you guys like it! Please R&R :)

Pidge and Matt came up with some electrocution bands to wrap Kuron up in as they strapped him to a chair. 

Matt was grateful that Lotor had sheared off most of the flesh. He didn't know how he would have handled electrocuting Shiro, someone he'd considered himself dating with Allura. And to find out that it was all a lie perpetuated by one of Zarkon's robots... He didn't know how to deal with it, even if he'd already known for a month that his Shiro was fake.

Allura felt the same way, pulling Matt aside before they would begin the questioning. 

"Are we..." Allura trailed off uncertainly, staring at Matt with eyes red from crying.

Matt pulled her into a hug. "We can still be together, Allura," he whispered reassuringly. "I love you just as much as I love Shiro. Whether we find him or not, I still want you."

Allura relaxed into his grip, burying her face in his shoulder. "Good. I was frightened that... you wouldn't want me any longer without Takashi," she admitted, "I love you both. I didn't want to lose you, too."

Matt rubbed her back gently, squeezing his eyes shut as his own tears started falling. "Me too. I wish we would have talked about this earlier.... I guess I just hoped that Keith and Lance were wrong. We never even really discussed it with Shiro - Kuron, either. We just... let him get close to us. Not knowing where you really stand isn't a good thing."

Allura shuddered in his arms and nodded.  "Yes, talking about it sooner would have helped, but... I was hoping the same thing, Matthew. When we get Shiro back, we're going to have to have a long talk with him," she said determinedly.

Matt's arms tightened around her. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure he'll love us both," he murmured, "There's nothing to worry about, my princess."

Allura lifted her head, giving Matt a contemplative look before pressing a hesitant kiss to his lips.

Matt was pretty sure his soul had just exited his body as he gently kissed her back. "I'm so happy that you're into both of us," he whispered.

Allura smiled. "I'm happy that we're all into each other," she replied, kissing him again. "I hope to give our Shiro a kiss soon."

"Me too, princess. Me too." He rested their foreheads together, a smile tugging at his lips. "So, we're officially dating properly, and we both want Shiro to date us too when we get him back. Just to be extra clear, because... Kuron was a disaster."

"Precisely," she replied, smiling back. "We'll be okay. We'll get Shiro back and hopefully... relieve some stress."

Matt wiggled his brows and Allura laughed, kissing his nose.

Pidge came looking for them and made a disgusted noise. "Seriously guys? Between you two and Keith and Lance, I feel like I'm always walking in on some gross couple shit," she snorted.

Matt blushed, pulling away from Allura. "Oh, when you find someone you like, gremlin, I'm going to do the same thing to you," he threatened.

Pidge shook her head. "Okay, good luck. But I am happy for you guys," she said, smiling widely, "Seriously. I hope things with Shiro go well. But we need to get back to dealing with Kuron."

Allura sighed and nodded. "Yes. Let's go. Did you have any ideas, Pidge?"

"Well, I was hoping while some of you guys distract Kuron with being physical and vocal, Matt and I work on hacking him to unlock any of Zarkon's plans that he might have locked in his brain. But we can't just dismantle his brain from his body so we can avoid any fights," she explained, pushing her glasses up her nose, "It's wrapped in too tightly and we don't want to destroy Kuron just yet."

Allura nodded in understanding, drawing herself up to her full height. The air almost seemed to crackle around her as she hardened up for the interrogation.

"I'll go in first," she said firmly, eyes glinting, "Kuron will regret ever existing."

Matt shivered and prayed that he would never piss Allura off, ever, as he followed his sister to what she'd dubbed the control room for the interrogation to start hacking once they'd booted Kuron up. Hunk, Lance, and Keith already sat in the interrogation room.

Kuron, whose robot body was now fully clean of any organic traces, looked over as Allura entered his room. "Ah... Allura, my love," he sneered.

Allura's expression didn't change as she came and sat in a chair not too far from where Kuron sat, tied up. "You do not have the right to call me that, Kuron," she said flatly. "I am not your lover and never was."

"You could have been," Kuron said with a weird sickening grin. The bot's face still looked oddly human, just chrome. "I hinted at what I wanted, but you refused me.”

"Because I knew what you were for a phoeb," she retorted, "Barely after you'd started flirting with Matt and I."

"Aw, isn't that sad," Kuron said with a fake pout. "I wanted to do so many awfully wicked things to you, Allura."

"Oh, shut the fuck up already," Lance snapped, glaring hard at Kuron.

Kuron gave Lance an amused glance and returned to leering at Allura.

"Tell me, Kuron, how did you manage to contact Zarkon, or whoever your master was, to report our careful mission of rescuing prisoners?" she asked slowly, "We couldn't find any traces of communication."

"I erased them, obviously," Kuron said, and Allura got the impression he was attempting to roll his eyeless sockets. "I've been attempting to pull you guys under subtly for a while, and Zarkon finally decided that perhaps more drastic measures needed to be taken and gave me orders."

Allura glared. "Well, it didn't work," she said sharply, "Zarkon continues to underestimate us."

Kuron just sighed. "I suppose that's his fault. Unfortunately, I couldn't do things my way. Or at least, entirely my way. I only had freedom to try and pry trust from you all any way I could. Which involved, of course, getting you and Matt under my thumb. Hopefully under more than that," he said lasciviously. 

Allura shuddered and Keith growled low in his throat.

"Leave her alone," Hunk said loudly with his own glare.

"Oh, shut it, tubby," Kuron snapped.

Hunk flinched backwards and Lance leaped to his feet, ready to just start ripping Kuron to shreds, but Keith's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"He's trying to get a rise out of you," he murmured in Lance's ear. "He probably hopes to get you to cut the ties or something."

Lance nodded and sat back down slowly, fists shaking with rage. Chulatt set him comforting pulses of emotion and Red purred at him. She, too, wanted to be angry, but there was a time and place for that.

"Guys, we got what we needed," Pidge's voice crackled over the intercom, "Go ahead and leave, we'll shut him down."

Kuron jerked, jaw falling open as he rooted through his own AI and found the hacks. "You little bit - " His cry of anger was cut off as Pidge shut him down, body slumping.

Lance breathed a sigh of relief, leaning into Keith.

"That seems... almost too easy," Keith said cautiously.

Matt's voice crackled next. "Zarkon didn't plan it very well, apparently," he said, "He added too much emotional instability into the AI and Kuron let himself get too distracted by riling you guys up and basically getting off on it."

Allura ran a hand down her face. "Well... That's something. Do we have anything on where we can find our Shiro?" she asked.

"Uh... If Lotor hasn't killed Slav after trying to get information from him," Matt said nervously.

Lance had to stifle a snort at the image his mind produced of Lotor dealing with Slav. He had no idea how the guy hadn't killed Slav yet, honestly - though the same could have been said for Shiro.

"I'll go check on them," he said, whipping out his cane and starting out. He didn't want to have to rely on Chulatt all the time - the mouse deserved his own life, still, so he gave the little guy a break to join his mouse family.

Keith trotted after him and the others went to the meeting hall to discuss what Pidge and Matt had found in Kuron's AI and figure out their next steps in destroying the Empire. 

As Lance and Keith approached Slav's tracking room, they could hear faint arguing - if it could even be called that.

"Did you know there are at least three realities in which you and I get together?" Slav yammered as he focused on his calculations.

Lotor inhaled deeply. "I did not, but I really did not need to know that either," he said, voice calm.

Keith glanced at Lance and bit his lip to stop from laughing. Lance covered his mouth with his hand to shut himself up, too.

"Mm, yes, well, now you know," Slav continued, typing away rapidly, "There's actually a higher chance of that happening in this one."

"No, there most definitely is not," Lotor insisted, growling under his breath.

"Ah, no, I see now - this is one of the ones where you kill me," Slav predicted, "In fact, now I'm certain there's a 99% chance of it happening." Actually, it was only a 16% chance, but the more Slav said Lotor would murder him, the lower the chances got.

Lotor inhaled deeply again. He refused to prove this little worm thing right about him, unknowingly playing right into Slav's hand. "Is there any information on Shiro's whereabouts yet?" he asked.

"We'd like to know," Lance chirped as they walked in, startling Slav.

"Well, I'm 100% certain that Shiro from this reality is stuck in between realities somewhere," Slav said, standing and dusting himself off. "Unfortunately, I'm only 27% sure I know exactly which realities he's stuck between and even then it's only a 2% chance he's stuck in the exact spot where I suspect he could be. So I need to do some more calculations and figure out where he is so we can rescue him without destroying any other realities, which has an 83% chance of happening if we go now and chase my current suspicion, which I advise against."

Keith rubbed his temples. "So you need more time?" he asked in exasperation.

"That's the short of it," Slav agreed.

Lotor stared at the paladins in amazement as they left Slav to his calculations. "How in the quiznak did you manage to get that information from him? Every time I asked, he distracted me with something else," he said, frowning. 

Keith and Lance shrugged.

"Maybe he just likes us better," Lance teased. 

Lotor rolled his eyes. "You're insufferable. I have no idea how your Keith deals with you," he said to Lance.

"I - what?" Keith stuttered, flummoxed. "His Keith?"

"Yes, and he's your Lance, is he not?" Lotor asked easily, "I thought you two were mated now."

Lance blushed and stammered for a moment, causing the light bulb to flick on in Lotor's mind.

"Oh, I see - you two haven't mated," he said, a smirk curling over his lips.

"It's none of your business," Keith growled.

Lotor fell into silence, but the smirk remained on his face as they made their way down to the meeting hall.

"So Slav has an idea of where Shiro is," Lance announced, "But he needs some more time to be sure of Shiro's exact location. He's stuck between reality dimension thingies but the problem is finding where."

Pidge frowned, pushing her glasses up her nose again. "I suppose that's possible, considering Ulaz's pocket dimension hideout," she mused, "But how is Shiro surviving?"

"Probably space magic bullshit that would take way too long to explain," Keith said, dropping into a chair. Lance dropped into his lap and he made a frustrated sound. "Lance!"

"What? I can't get cuddly with my boyfriend?" Lance asked, pouting.

Coran chuckled, Pidge sighed, and Allura and Hunk reacted with "aww"s.

Keith rubbed his face, but slipped his arms around Lance's waist and pulled him into his chest. "Bastard," he muttered.

"Untrue," Lance whispered back.

Allura shifted closer to Matt, grasping his hand. "Okay, Holts, go ahead and continue with your debriefing. We have more information on secret hideouts and some attack plans that likely won't change," she recapped for Keith, Lance, and Lotor's benefits.

They nodded and the Holt siblings started going into greater detail about the plots of Zarkon and counter-attacks they were forming. Vargas passed quickly and finally Allura let them all go to bed.

Lance hadn't left Keith's lap the whole time, almost causing a few embarrassing situations, but thankfully nothing happened. He finally stood and stretched.

"Whoo. That was a lot," he said tiredly, leaning on Keith when he stood up.

"What am I, your pillow?" Keith said in exasperation, holding Lance up anyway. 

"Yes."

Keith groaned in false irritation, but didn't deny Lance's accusation. Honestly, he liked that Lance was so touchy-feely anyway. It soothed a hole in his psyche that he hadn't realized needed to be filled.

Smugness radiated off Lance as they made their way to Lance's room. They often slept together now, but nothing really happened besides sleeping - and Lance using his face masks.

Tonight they would sleep easier than they had in a long time. Kuron was officially gone, and they were just a little bit closer to finding Shiro. Zarkon would regret ever being born.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I, uh, may have gotten carried away with this chapter's length, but i'm pretty sure I told you guys before that my chapter length consistency sucks ^-^; so here it is, Tuesday's update! A whole heck of a lot happens, so ready your roller coaster belts. Please R&R <3 love all you guys who read this :)

Keith woke up to soft kisses peppering his face and he smiled as one landed on his lips.

"Good morning," he whispered, opening his eyes to stare at Lance.

"Good morning," Lance whispered back, smiling. "Hey... I love you."

Keith blinked in shock. "Isn't it a little soon to be saying that?" he asked, still whispering. "I mean, you said you didn't even really realize you liked me until not that long ago..."

Lance bit his lip. "I think I was just in denial," he explained in a mutter, "I'd been thinking about you for a while, but I figured I never had a chance... Sorry if I made you uncomfortable." He started to slide away from Keith, but Keith's arms encircled him quickly and he paused.

"You didn't," Keith assured him, swallowing. "I just... Wanted to be sure. Because I love you too."

Lance blushed and gaped like a fish for a moment, causing Keith to chuckle. He leaned forward and pushed Lance's jaw shut so he could kiss him sweetly.

"I'm happy with you, Lance," he murmured, shifting his kissing down Lance's jaw.

Lance made a strangled sound. "I'm happy with you, too," he replied, burying his face in Keith's hair. "Mm... We should - we should go get breakfast and start working on taking down Zarkon..."

Keith pulled away with a sigh. "Yeah. I know. But once this is all over, and there's no chance of us being interrupted... I want to have you."

Lance blushed again, smiling widely. "Yeah. I want to have you, too."

They kissed again, but parted quickly, knowing they couldn't let it get too heated. Both of them wished they didn't have to wait, but it would be safer to wait until they could have a real break, or until Zarkon was defeated. Whichever came first.

\----

Slav called them excitedly into the hangar of the Black Lion as the Castleship's residents sat down to eat lunch, babbling something about Shiro, but his words were coming out too fast for anyone to keep up. 

Keith sprinted down, Lance close behind and using Chulatt's eyes so he could get down there quickly. He needed to see this for himself.

Slav waved them in and gestured to some of the things he'd attached to the Black Lion. "He disappeared from the Lion, so of course she was the key!" he burst out, eyes wide with excitement. This would be one of the realities that had a much higher chance of things turning out fine, he just knew it. "I have found where he is!"

"You know where Shiro is?" Matt cried out excitedly, stepping forward, "How do we get him?"

Slav waved his arms to get everyone to settle down as they started blasting him with questions. "I need Keith to do this, as the Black Lion's current paladin. Only he can access the depths of where Shiro is located and pull him," he explained, "Keith, enter Black and sit in the cockpit. You will need to focus on Shiro and let yourself go, float into the void where Shiro is. If my theories are correct, your bond will appear as a string, connecting you two. I'm unsure of the color, but the one connecting you and Black should be, well, black! Follow the other one to get Shiro, and take him back through to Black."

Keith blinked. "How do I just... let myself float into the void?" he asked, furrowing his brow. "What does that even mean?"

"If I understand Slav right," Pidge interjected before Slav could jump in with a super technical explanation, "It's similar to slipping into the mindscape but you're taking your body with you. Just focus on going to the inbetween with Black's help."

Keith nodded slowly, pretty sure he had it, but if he didn't, he figured Black would just nudge him in the right direction.

"So you're saying Keith has to actually, physically go to the same place to get Shiro back," Lance said a bit flatly.

"Yes," Slav replied, seemingly not detecting Lance's mood.

Lance's hands curled into fists at his sides, but Keith's hand on his shoulder gave him an anchor and he turned to face Keith. He felt Chulatt scramble to nestle atop his head so Keith could put his hand on Lance's other shoulder. 

"I'm coming back," Keith said firmly, "I'm not leaving you. I'm going to come back, and it's going to be with Shiro. I promise, Lance." A dangerous promise to make, he thought to himself, but he'd be damned if he broke it. 

Lance made a strangled, sad sound and moved to take Keith in a crushing hug. "You'd better come back," he rasped in Keith's ear, "I need you, Keith."

"I need you too," Keith whispered, hugging him back. He kissed Lance lightly, ignoring all the others in the room. He knew that none of them would tease him and Lance over this. It was too emotional and somewhat heartbreaking, so he took the chance to give Lance as much affection as he could in the space of a few seconds.

"Come back so I can tell you how much I love you every day," Lance whispered.

"I will," Keith replied quietly, "I love you too, Lance." He refused to actually say the words goodbye, pulling back and clenching his jaw as he marched towards Black.

As he settled in the cockpit, he took deep, steadying breaths. "Patience yields focus... Okay, Black. Help me get to Shiro," he said, sinking into the void. He almost slipped into the mindscape instead, but Black's nudge pushed him the right way and he felt like his body had just been squeezed through a tube of toothpaste. 

He opened his eyes and immediately regretted it, but he needed to follow the bond string. It glowed a soft gold in the pure white of the inbetween, and he forced himself to focus on it only instead of the misshapen silhouettes that flickered in the distance and up close. They were sickening to view and Keith didn't want to know what sort of creatures they were that lurked in the inbetween, this space where he wasn't supposed to exist.

He followed the string, biting back the amusement that tried to rise as he thought about Lance making some kind of yellow brick road joke. He needed to focus on Shiro only. It felt like hours that he walked along, but also only felt like a few moments. Time was warped here and it turned his stomach, but he pushed those feelings away.

Then he bumped into something and he yelled in shock, looking to see - Shiro. His body just... floated there and Keith grabbed him.

Shiro's eyes snapped open and he gasped, falling to the odd ground on his feet. "What - Keith?" he asked, gaping. "No... Are you dead too?"

Keith snorted. "Shiro, if we were dead, I'd be kicking your ass for getting yourself killed. As it is..." He punched Shiro in his flesh arm lightly before pulling him into a hug. "We've been looking for you for so long. But no time for that. We need to get you home before these things... eat us or something."

Shiro blinked, but nodded and followed Keith as he focused on his bond with Black, watching the black string appear. They clung to each other the whole time, not wanting to somehow get separated and lost. Once they'd reached the point where the string ended, Keith briefly explained to Shiro what to do, and together, they sank back into their reality, both jolting in surprise as Black sprang for them and nudged them in.

Keith groaned loudly as he woke up. Ugh, he felt like a boulder had crushed him. Was still crushing him. He frowned and opened his eyes.

Oh.

Shiro woke up and jerked as he looked around, falling off Keith's lap. "What - what - Keith? Black? I'm... I'm alive? I'm home?" he stumbled over his words, his thoughts swirling around. God, that inbetween place had nearly drove him mad.

Keith laughed weakly. "Yeah, Shiro. You're home. We all are. It's been months, Shiro. But we found you. There's so much to tell you," he said, standing up on legs made of jelly. "I'm never going back to that inbetween. That was..."

"Yeah," Shiro agreed absently, shivering. "It felt like I was in there for years, but also like... only a few hours between me showing up and then you showing up."

Keith nodded. "Yeah, well, same for me as I was looking for you, but on a smaller scale. Come on. We need to get Coran to look over you and then we'll explain everything," he assured.

Shiro nodded and Black rumbled at them happily, shifting to let them out.

Lance was the only one in the hangar, asleep in a nearby chair, but snapping awake as soon as he heard Black's movements. "Keith?! Oh my god, Keith, please tell me you're there," he begged, standing up.

"Yeah, I'm here, Lance. And with Shiro," he confirmed, realizing that Lance didn't have Chulatt with him. Oh, that probably hadn't been a good idea...

Shiro frowned at Lance's face, noting how his gaze seemed to just stare slightly behind them somehow. "Lance? Can't you... see us?"

Lance gasped softly at hearing Shiro's voice and rushed forward, slamming into Shiro for a tight hug. Shiro let out a soft ‘oof’ but hugged Lance back.

“Like I said… there’s a lot that happened, Shiro,” Keith murmured.

“Yeah. Um, I’m blind,” Lance said, “But I’ve been this way for a couple months - augh, phoebs - now. So I’m getting used to it okay.”

Shiro blinked. “You… what? How long was I gone?”

“About five phoebs, give or take a movement or two,” Lance answered, moving to Keith for a hug. “You were gone for a whole movement in there, Keith. I was so scared I’d lost both of you…”

Keith hugged his boyfriend back tightly. “It’s okay. We’re both here now. Anything happen?”

Lance shook his head. “No. Just been training and planning,” he answered, kissing Keith’s temple.

Shiro blinked again. “What  _ happened _ while I was in there?” he asked dazedly.

Lance snorted. “Keith and I finally learned to get along,” he replied with a shit-eating grin.

Keith rolled hi s  eyes. “Shiro, seriously, before we explain too much and send you into shock, we need to get Coran to look you over,” he said firmly, “But I will say that yes, Lance and I are dating, but you’re not allowed to say anything about it until you’ve had recovery time.”

Shiro closed his mouth and ran a hand through his hair. He really wasn’t sure how to handle all this right now, so he just nodded and followed Keith and Lance to the med bay. Lance had sent Coran a message on his space phone to get ready for when they showed up.

Naturally, the whole team gathered in once the news travelled around, minus Allura and Matt. Lance guessed they didn’t want to overwhelm Shiro, but staying back must have been agonizing.

Coran examined Shiro carefully and declared him in a fit enough state of health to handle the wealth of information of things that he’d missed.

Shiro inhaled deeply, looking over the faces he’d missed dearly. “After I was… pushed outside reality… It looks like a lot happened. Where’s Allura?” he asked. He ached to hug her, maybe kiss her if she wanted that.

Pidge grinned at him. “Well… First off, I have to tell you - we found Matt. We found my brother, Shiro,” she said, excitement thrumming through her.

Shiro almost fell out of his seat. “What? Matt’s back?” he asked eagerly. Oh, how he’d ached for his best friend - his other crush - as well.

Pidge nodded. “Yup. He’s hanging out with Allura right now - they didn’t want to freak you out. But you should definitely talk to them afterwards,” she advised, “It’s going to be a pretty heavy conversation.”

He frowned in response to that, but nodded reluctantly. At least they were getting along. “So… Lance is blind. How did that happen?” he asked, turning to face Lance - oh. Right.

Lance sighed. “Got hit on the head too hard by one of Zarkon’s guys,” he said with a shrug, “Brain damage, lights out. But I can still see sometimes. Like using Red’s eyes and Chulatt’s. I spent a lot of time in the pods with the mouse, so our brains connected like with Allura.”

Shiro furrowed his brow. “Red?”

Keith nodded. “Yup. I took Black while you were gone, Lance took Red, and Allura connected with Blue,” he explained. 

“I told you that you could lead Voltron,” Shiro said with an encouraging smile as he took in the information.

Lance snorted. “Not without my help,” he bragged, slinging an arm over Keith’s shoulders.

Hunk chuckled a little as Keith rolled his eyes, but leaned into the touch with a light blush.

“So… when did that happen?” Shiro asked, nodding towards Keith and Lance.

“About a phoeb and a half ago,” Lance answered.

“He figured out he liked me five seconds before he kissed me,” Keith said dryly.

“Yeah, right after he stumbled out of a healing pod,” Pidge scowled, glaring at Hunk who grinned unapologetically.

“Damn,” Shiro muttered, “Guess that means Kolivan won our bet.” Oh, did he say that aloud?

Pidge shrieked in frustration. “Goddamnit, Shiro! Now I owe Hunk money again!”

Shiro was about to reprimand her for her language, but he’d just cursed too, so he let it go. “Why? What happened now?” he asked instead, eyebrows climbing upward.

“Pidge and I had a bet about how Keith and Lance would get together. I won. Then we bet on whether or not  _ you _ and Kolivan bet on them, and I won again,” Hunk explained with a laugh, ignoring Pidge’s playful arm punch.

Lance snickered and Keith huffed out a laugh, watching Shiro groan and rub his hand over his face. But beneath the hand, he grinned, eyes sparkling. God, it felt so good to be back with his family. He felt happier than he had in a long time.

"So... Anything else pretty big happen?" he asked, eyes finally lingering on Lotor, who stood way back, watching the scene.

"Well, we've been working with the Blades of Marmora pretty well," Hunk said, then gestured to Lotor, "And now we have Prince Lotor on our side."

Shiro blinked. "Sorry?"

"Prince Lotor. Zarkon and Haggar's son," Hunk explained with a sheepish smile. 

Lotor smiled a little, waving a small royalty-wave. If Lance were honest, it struck him as similar to the one Anne Hathaway had to do in the Princess Diaries. 

"Ah," Shiro said after a long pause, waving back, "Prince Lotor. Good to meet you. You're with us?"

"Yes. Nice to finally meet you properly as well, Black Paladin," Lotor addressed. 

Keith nodded to Shiro at his questioning look. "Trust me, Shiro. He's okay," he assured.

He nodded at Keith in understanding. He trusted his team. "Anything else pressing I should know about before I'm allowed to see Allura?" he asked dryly.

"Er... Yeah," Lance said apologetically, "After you went all poof, the Galra somehow gave us a robo-clone-guy-thing of you. He's dead now, though, so."

"What?" Shiro asked, jaw popping open in shock, "I'm - Did they really go for that evil clone cliche in soap operas?"

Lance laughed, though the thought wasn't exactly funny. "Yeah. But... It was really convincing, Shiro. I think you need to talk to Allura about it, though. And Matt. Some of the things he did... Well, you need to be with them. They'll tell you," he said, squeezing Keith's hand.

Keith nodded, shifting to brush his and Lance's shoulders together. "It'll be better coming from them, the stories," he said quietly.

Shiro winced. "That doesn't bode well," he muttered, standing. "Well, take me to them. Please. I need to see them."

Hunk stood from his spot, offering to lead Shiro. Everyone else had other things they could attend to now, and Hunk decided he could put off working for a little bit. Maybe this would take his mind off some things, anyway, he thought to himself, glancing at Lotor.

To his surprise, Lotor was watching him and smiled genuinely, though it was small. Hunk smiled back tentatively and took Shiro from the med bay, the others slowly dispersing to their respective "jobs" aboard the ship. 

\-------

Hunk didn't enter the small lounge room where Allura and Matt waited for Shiro, just opening the door and ushering their leader in before making himself scarce.

Shiro walked in, noting Allura and Matt sitting very close to each other on the couch. What...?

Allura and Matt both smiled at him, though, so he smiled back nervously and sat across from them. 

"The others said that you would need to tell me about some of the things with the - the other me," he began hesitantly.

"Yeah," Matt sighed, desperately wanting to jump over and hug Shiro tightly - for real this time. "Allura and I... We both, er..."

Allura inhaled deeply. "Shiro, we thought that Kuron was you for a very long time," she started, "And the both of us... Well, we figured out how much we liked each other. And you, naturally. You see, on Altea, polyamory, as you Humans call it, was a natural practice. Many couplings were made of three people, though it was a little less common than simply two. After I explained this to Matt and you - Kuron, I mean... " She paused, trying to gather her thoughts. She really didn't want to hurt Shiro.

Shiro's gaze flitted from Matt to Allura rapidly as he started piecing together the clues. "So... you dated me - but it wasn't me me. Both of you. Together," he said carefully, wanting to make sure he had this clear.

Matt shook his head. "No, see, we didn't... We wanted to, but Kuron... He wanted to, I think, but we never really talked about it?" he explained weakly, scratching behind his ear, "All of us just... Sort of assumed things were okay, when they really weren't, because we never actually talked about us dating. Set rules and stuff down. We just..."

"Drifted together," Allura finished, chewing her lip, "We got into cuddle piles, and there was more casual touching, but it never felt... quite right, because we never talked about it. But now I know why. Kuron, when we were interrogating him, admitted he had rather... unsavory plans for us in the bedroom." She grimaced.

Shiro's jaw dropped in shock (yet again). "Did he?"

Matt shook his head rapidly. "No, we hardly even got close to kissing," he explained, "I wanted to do all those things with you and Allura, but... we never were really sure where we stood."

Allura nodded in agreement, sinking into Matt's side.

"So... where does that leave me?" Shiro asked, trying too hard to sound casual.

"If you'll have us both, we both want you," Allura whispered, "We want a triad, Shiro. With you. And this time, we definitely want to make sure it's done properly, so there's going to be lots of questions of boundaries - " She cut herself off, staring expectantly at Shiro for his response.

Shiro stood from his chair and made his way over the two most important people in the world to him. "I've definitely wanted both of you," he admitted softly, "I just didn't know how to.... express it, without Matt. I felt guilty. But now I know... If I can have you both, I want you both. Please."

Matt lurched up and finally wrapped Shiro in the hug he'd desperately wanted ever since he discovered Kuron was a fake.  Shiro hugged him back tightly, happy to see his best friend, his boyfriend now.

Allura stood and joined the hug, and many tears were shed as they stood together, just enjoying each other's company. Eventually, they sat to have a long talk in a cuddle pile, making sure everything was clear as day. Honesty is the best policy, after all.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey look at that, chapter six updated on the sixth of April, how appropriate! Well you guys, this is the final chapter for part 2 of The World Was Screaming In Color :D I will post part 3 next Tuesday, titled "The War Was In Color". Please R&R and I hope you enjoy <3

"So... What now?"

Lance's voice was quiet as the Paladins finally all met up again, plus Matt, Lotor, and Coran. Shiro was back - again. Would Keith go to the Blades again? God, he didn't know if he could take it if Keith just left him. They were still a fairly new couple, and Lance didn't want to lose him. The thought made him want to cry. But it was likely that would happen, wasn't it? Shiro had already gone to Black and she'd accepted him again warmly, happy to have her true Paladin back. Red would want Keith back, and Allura deserved Blue. She was the heart of Voltron, the key to unlock hidden powers. Lance was....

Lance was being shoved to the side again - more correctly, shoving himself to the side. He would rather sit around the Castleship and have Keith still living there with him than... Than have Keith run back to the Blades so he could keep piloting Red.

Shiro sighed. "I don't know." He knew what was probably going though Lance's head and it tore him up to see his teammate so forlorn.

Allura looked at them all and saw Shiro's worry, Keith's determination, and Lance's resigned look. She knew her team well; she could guess at all their thoughts easily. Lance had already told himself he wasn't getting a Lion anymore; Keith would go back to the Blades so Lance would be happy; Shiro wanted both of them to happy but he didn't know how to go about it.

But Allura knew exactly what to do. She'd loved piloting Blue, but her true place was in the Castleship. She was the only one who could operate it and they'd had too many close calls to count with her having to run up from the bridge in order to wormhole them all away. 

Drawing herself to her full height as she stood, the very picture of royalty and determination, she said, "I will leave Blue."

Lance's head snapped to her, despite Chulatt being absent from his shoulder, so he sort of missed looking at her directly. "But Allura! You  _ love  _ Blue!" he exclaimed, aghast, "You've been able to do things that we couldn't with them. You adapted to it faster than any of us."

Allura nodded. "I understand that, Lance. But the Castleship needs me here more than Voltron itself does. You all work together seamlessly. It's time for me to return to my rightful place here, in my home. If anything comes up, I can pilot again, or tell you what I think, as I used to. I love Blue dearly, but I'm not the one she chose originally."

Blue purred in her mind, giving her a warm, proud feeling.  _ {Paladin Allura, I did pick you. You were wonderful. But you are right. It is time to let Lance come back to me.} _

She nodded, watching the looks of confusion on the other's faces. "Blue is saying I'm making the right choice," she murmured, "I trust her to know what she's doing, just as I trust myself. If she says I'm right, then quiznak, I'm right."

Lance swallowed. "But..."

"No buts," she said ruthlessly. "Lance, you are the Blue Paladin. I was only a temporary while we figured out how to fix everything. It's okay. Really, now."

Oh, no, Lance was gonna cry. He squeezed Keith's hand, trying not to let any of the tears fall. It was going to be okay. Allura was right - he should trust Blue. Blue, his lovely Blue. She actually wanted him back.

Keith let go of Lance's hand to pull him into his side. "You're fine, sharpshooter," he murmured, "This is a good thing."

Lance laughed wetly, the tears finally spilling over. "Thank you, Allura. Have I ever told you you're the most beautiful being in the universe? Because you are."

She couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yes, I seem to recall you saying that many times," she said dryly, "In much less favorable conditions. Aren't you supposed to be flirting with Keith, instead?"

"Yeah, Lance, why are you flirting with another person when Keith's right there?" Pidge teased gently.

Lance wiped at his face and stuck his tongue out in Pidge's general direction. "I didn't mean it like that; she's basically my sister now," he complained.

Keith shook his head and pressed a small kiss to Lance's temple. He wasn't much for PDA, but he knew when Lance needed a small bit of comfort, and he could give light touches and kisses. "It's okay, Lance. You're allowed to compliment other people," he said softly. "I'm not easy to get jealous."

Lance smiled. "Okay, good. Does that mean I can call Shiro hot?" he joked immediately.

Shiro slapped a hand over his face with a groan and Keith snorted. 

"Look, I really don't want to hear your fantasies about someone who's basically my brother in every way but blood," Keith said with a scowl.

"Who said anything about fantasies?" Lance protested immediately.

"Your dreams did," Keith shot back.

Lance blushed and Hunk snorted a laugh.

"He still has dreams about Shiro?" Hunk asked, grinning at Keith. "I thought he'd gotten over those after he met you."

"Okay, we are done with this conversation!" Lance shouted, standing up and crossing his arms in a huff as he started walking away. "No more, no way. I'm gonna go say bye to Red and talk to Blue."

Lotor chuckled softly, glancing at Hunk. "That was interesting," he said mildly.

Hunk chuckled again, turning to Lotor. "Yeah, he woke me up a couple times with his, ah... Dreams," he admitted. "Since he had to do laundry after a few of them."

Shiro sighed and Matt patted him comfortingly on the shoulder.

"If you want, Shiro, I could detail all the dreams I've had about you to take your mind off that," he whispered into Shiro's ear, grinning at the visible shiver from his lover.

Allura smirked at them. "You'll have to tell me, too," she said quietly.

Ignoring them, Lotor smirked at Hunk. "That's good blackmail material," he complimented.

Hunk shook his head. "It's not something I'd ever use against him unless he tried using stuff against me. He's still my best friend. I really shouldn't have said all that..."

Lotor shrugged. "Understandable. I won't hold it against you," he promised, "Or Lance. He deserves to be happy, I think."

Hunk beamed and Lotor felt his knees go weak, knowing that he'd caused that smile. 

"Yeah. We all do," Hunk said softly, "Including you. I heard Pidge found information on your generals, by the way... They haven't been killed yet. But I think we can plan an escape for them. I know you've been missing them, and if we can get them on our side..."

Lotor gazed at Hunk with an unreadable expression, though inside his heart pounded. “I’ve told you what I did for them to distrust me in the first place,” he said tonelessly, “They will not so easily believe me. Nor you, even if you did rescue them.”

Hunk frowned. “They seemed like more than your generals to you,” he said gently, “Like… your best friends. I’m sure they’d understand why you did what you had to… I don’t  _ like _ it, but it was better for Narti, right? She was hurting deep inside because of Haggar from something she probably couldn’t have recovered from.”

Lotor turned his gaze to the table. Everything Hunk had said was true. The witch had ruined one of his generals, his best friends, and she couldn’t have been able to come back from the abyss Haggar had pushed her into just to get at  _ him _ . Guilt wracked his system over it. She would be alive if it weren’t for him, for Haggar.

“Hey.”

Hunk’s voice called out to Lotor and he turned his gaze back to him with a small sigh.

“It’s not your fault.”

Lotor’s eyes narrowed. How had Hunk known - ?   
  
“Dude, it was all over your face,” Hunk said dryly, “I know you better. You’re an asshole on the surface, but you’ve talked to me about a lot of things for a reason. I listen. Trust me. It’s not your fault and we will get them back. We’ll save them and do what it takes to have them trust you again, okay?”

Lotor’s heart felt like it was being squeezed. Hunk was so nice… God, why did he have to like Hunk so damn much? He’d never had a crush in his life before, discounting Allura when they were both young, long before he was frozen and the war got worse, before she got to grow up and then frozen herself. And Hunk was just igniting feelings that he’d really hardly felt before and didn’t know how to deal with.

Eventually, he gathered the wherewithal to nod silently at Hunk, who smiled and squeezed his shoulder. Oh, shit, the man was strong. And thick. He loved it. An embarrassed flush crept over his cheeks and he coughed to hide any other embarrassing noises he might have made at that.

“Thank you, Yellow Paladin,” he said, addressing him officially to put distance between them.

“You’re welcome,” Hunk murmured. 

Lotor was quiznaked.

\-----

Lance was quiznaked. He'd walked off in a huff, without counting his steps, without Chulatt to guide him, and now he'd gotten his stupid self lost. He sighed irritably and whipped out his cane, tapping around for any clues. The sounds that reverberated didn't really help him like they usually did, so he guessed he was in an unfamiliar part of the Castleship. He hummed, trying to distracted himself as he worked on finding a staircase to get down to the lower levels were the lions were.

After a frustrating while of getting nowhere (aka more lost), he heard Keith's soft footfalls behind him and he sighed in relief. 

"Hey babe," he said, turning to smile tiredly at him.

"Hey. I figured maybe you'd want me to be there when you and Blue reconnected," Keith said, graciously not mentioning the real reason - he'd had a feeling Lance would get lost after storming off. He'd gotten Pidge to track where Lance was so he could go to him.

Lance nodded, smile growing brighter. "Yeah. That's actually not a bad idea," he said, reaching out. "You're the best."

Keith grasped his hand lightly and gently tugged him down the corridor. "So you've said," he said dryly, "Come on." 

Lance let himself be led to the hangars, humming softly again.

"What are you humming?" Keith asked curiously after a bit. He could swear that he almost recognized it.

"Bohemian Rhapsody."

Keith laughed and started to sing almost immediately. "Mama.... just killed a man..."

"Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he's dead," Lance continued with a bright grin.

They continued to sing the ballad until they reached Blue's hangar, hanging off each other and laughing at themselves.

"That was awesome," Keith admitted, kissing Lance softly.

Lance blushed, kissing him back. "Yeah. Man. We need an Earth music karaoke night."

Keith shrugged. "Maybe. Pidge found a way to charge my iPod, so I think we could do something with some of my songs. Sorry, there's no Beyonce for you."

"Psh. I'll sing along to MCR for you," Lance joked, "No biggie. Besides, I had my phone on me when we left, and I had all of my Spotify playlists downloaded because I had premium. I got my Beyonce."

Keith shook his head, but smiled. "Yeah, alright."

Blue finally rumbled. She hadn't wanted to interrupt their conversation.

Lance let go of Keith and turned to her, beaming. "Blue, baby, sweetheart, the love of my life," he gushed, stepping forward.

"I thought I was those things," Keith called out teasingly.

"Okay, the robot lion love of my life. You're the half-alien love of my life. Hunk's the human love of my life," Lance clarified, sticking his tongue out at Keith, "Satisfied?"

Keith snickered. "Yeah, sure."

Rolling his eyes, he turned back to Blue. She bent and opened her maw for Lance to climb in. He patted her nose affectionately as he stumbled in and plopped into the seat in the cockpit.

"I missed you so much," Lance sighed gustily, resting his hands on her controls. 

_ {I missed you as well, Lance,} _ she purred, flashing him warm emotion,  _ {My Blue Paladin.} _

He relaxed as he finally felt her touch in his mind again, cool and icy and right. He shivered a little, but he liked it. This was his lion. Water and ice were for him. Just as he belonged to her.

"You're a darling, Blue," he cooed happily. 

She chuckled and he let himself sink into the mindscape, opening his eyes to see the blue lioness before him. He hugged her, feeling her large paw wrap around him in return.

"Red was nice, but you're still the best," he mumbled into her fur, "Too warm with her. Keith likes it. Not me."

She licked his hair affectionately and purred.  _ {I had wondered when you two would get together. All of us saw it, you know. Red and Black were starting to form plans to shove you together when you finally took matters into your own hands.} _

Lance huffed. "Okay, I get it, practically the entire universe saw it coming but me," he complained, "I can't believe Shiro had a bet with Kolivan, and now I find out that the freaking lions themselves knew the whole time."

Blue laughed, the sound echoing sweetly in his mind. He felt soothed in a way he hadn't known he was missing.

_ {I'm sorry for my harsh rejection,} _ Blue apologized softly, pinning her ears back with a soft whine, { _ We needed to quickly establish the shift to get to saving the universe.} _

"Aw, Blue. It's okay," Lance forgave her instantly, kissing her forehead, "It had to be done, right? And it all worked out, and now I'm back with the most beautiful lion on the team."

_ {You flatterer,} _ she said fondly, nudging him and purring, but she didn't deny it.

Lance grinned, scratching behind her ears. "You know it, baby Blue," he replied. "I missed you so freaking much, ah. I can't believe I'm back here with you. You're so perfect."

_ {Are you not even a little worried about going overboard with those compliments?} _ she teased gently.

He snorted. "Nah. I could never say enough good things about you."

_ {Hm. I think you should reserve some for your Red Paladin,} _ she told him, smirking in a way that a lioness probably shouldn't, but considering all the alien bullshit and mindscape thing, Lance didn't really question it.

"Oh, I have plenty in my arsenal for him," he said cockily, grinning back, "I love making him blush. He's adorable."

Blue chuckled again and nuzzled him.  _ {Shall we take a flight?} _

"Yes!" came the instant reply. Lance rubbed her head once more before letting himself come back to his body. He stretched and placed his hands on the controls, sighing at the familiar contact.

_ {Keith went back to Red while we talked,} _ Blue informed him, _ {She says they'll be joining us now that she's back with her Paladin.} _

Lance nodded in understanding, looking through Blue's eyes and watching the hangar door open. Blue sprang forward at a twist of his wrist on a control and the launched into space, turning dizzying loops. Lance whooped, happy to back with his true Lion, and Blue purred, pleased to be back with  _ her  _ true Paladin.

Red joined them in a loop and Lance heard Keith's laughter over the comms.

"Hey babe, how's it going?" Lance asked, swinging to look at Red.

"Going good. Glad to be back with Red, honestly," Keith admitted.

"Me too. You were a pretty damn good leader, though," Lance said, a soft smile on his face.

"Only because you were there to be my impulse control. Ironic, considering your own impulses," Keith said, unable to resist the jab.

Lance just laughed. "Yeah, well. You were good at it anyway. Though I am happy to have our real Shiro back," he admitted.

"Me too. I don't like leading," Keith muttered, "Shiro's better at it... And yeah."

Lance shrugged. "You both were good, but I'd rather have everyone in the lions they want to be in, rather than the ones out of a desperate need to save the universe because of Kuron or whatever other shit might happen."

Keith was glad Lance couldn't see his blush. "Yeah. Me too."

Lance smiled again and charged off with Blue, causing Keith to yelp in surprise and give chase. He caught up quickly and nudged Blue with Red, laughing.

"Did you really think you could outrun the fastest lion?" he teased.

"Maybe if I caught you by surprise, but I still didn't even get that far," Lance grumbled, pouting.

Keith laughed again, feeling lighter than he had in a long time. Kuron was gone, Shiro was back, he was dating Lance, and they were all back in their proper lions.

Now all they had to do was defeat Zarkon and go home.


End file.
